Hello fellow whistlers,
has anybody got any information about the Japanese whistle maker Ken Matsusaka or his S.Z.B.E whistles?
His Website is up for some time now. But I could not find yet any information about his whistles on this planet other than from the site itself:
http://klick.hp.infoseek.co.jp
Is it possible that this weird event was overlooked by you?
Oh, quite possible. But why is it a weird event? 
Those whistles look cool 
the low whistle is 15,000 yen sounds like a lot but is only $145 US. Talk about major currency differences. I have never heard of them how bout you get one and post a review. 
I just wanted to put a little bit of color to my post.
according to one friend who’s really into whistles, S.Z.B.E. has “the sound of THE low whistle”. I asked Ken and he told me there’s no clogging problem, which is also a good thing.
I sent him an email asking how I could make payment and all I got back was the price of the whistle and a shipping date of 2 weeks from that point. I don’t know how to send yen and he didn’t seem to know how to explain it to me. His English is better than my Japanese, but there was still a large gap between our understandings.
black, just sent you a PM!
It seems that sending “gen-nama”, meaning Real Dough, can be a solution to this. If you go to a large airport or a bank they can exchange the $ into yen, and then you can send them to Ken directly. I think this method’s easier than sending a check or wiring the money.
I wonder if he’d send me one to review for my website..
Air,
Read your post the other day and found it interesting since I live here in Kyoto, Japan. I emailed Matsusaka San and he says he plays pretty regulary at several bars in the area, so I might go check him out this weekend. In fact hes been emailing me quite a bit. Seems really friendly. He kinda gave me the impression that hes primarily a pipe player but Im sure hell be playing some of his own whistles so hopefully I`ll be able to give you some more info about them!
It`s amazing how you can find whistle players just about anywhere.
Hello
I’m living in Japan and mostlly play pipes but also hava one of Ken’s Low whistle. Mine is one of his most early product and has a little bit rough finish but nice in tone playability. He is making his whistles for small handed people, he himself has a small hand too(most Japanese have small hands and have difficulties in playing Low whistles)
The tone is flutish,with easy streching ,moderate backpressure.
I think sending a International Postal Money Order will be the easy way.
Makoto
Hi, I’m new here.
My husband plays flute and whistle for our Comhaltas ceili band.
He and our son are going to Tokyo late March for the Anime Convention.
I’m sure he’d love to have a look at some of those whistles and to also join in a session somewhere there. I know he plans to make some purchases there!
They will be staying at an area called Ikebukuro…I guess it’s a business district? Any suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks.
Hi, Sorry, but I live in Kyoto and don`t really know much about Tokyo. Your husband can check out Japanzine, The Tokyo Classifieds, or any one of the monthly magazines geared twoards foreigners, and they should have numerous listings for Irish bars in the Tokyo area. There is definately no shortage of sessions here so he should have no problem finding one.
Cheers,
-Hudson.
XETrade:
is probably the easiest way to send money out of the US and Canada. I’ve used it a few times to buy stuff in Ireland and GB, but they handle Yen too. It takes a few days to set up, but after that it’s very easy (too easy, perhaps) to use. They can send a certified check on the currency you select, by mail, and you don’t even pay for postage (they make their money on small fluctuations of the exchange rates). Sending money to Europe this way takes about 10 days. You can also use it to “wire” money, but it’s not free (although still a lot cheaper than what my local bank charges for it). I’m just a happy user, no profit in this for me.
Paypal is another way, but of course, a lot more expensive to the person receiving the funds.